


Sunshine and breaking waves

by Icie



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-03-08 02:37:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13448748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icie/pseuds/Icie





	Sunshine and breaking waves

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sumi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sumi/gifts).



You like listening to the waves around the islands as much as watching them. The way the water breaks on the shore and then flows back out, leaving only foam behind, brings you a kind of peace. You hear Gladion settle beside you, and lean against him. He hesitates, with a stilling of his breathing and a pause in the swing of his legs off the rock the two of you are perched on, before he decides that he's allowed to wrap an arm around you. You give him a soft little sound of happiness, and he shakes his head.

The two of you often spend moments like this: in quiet which isn't quiet at all, once you relax into hearing the smaller things. You hear the scratching of a rattata, the wind whistling, and Gladion hesitating again.

You nestle against him more firmly. Though it's too hot for full contact, really, and your clothes are sticking to your sweat dampened skin, you know he appreciates you showing him, rather than telling him, that you want him close to you.

Idle moments pass, and you bask in the fond look you know he's giving you. He thinks he only uses this expression when you're not looking, but you've caught enough glimpses of its edges to know it's there regardless. Besides, you use a similar one for him as well, and it's very close to the one he uses for his pokémon. A look that shows love, of many kinds.

"The sea is rough," he says, breaking the silence. "There might be a storm coming."

As much as you enjoy quiet moments, spent without words, you don't miss the silence once it's gone. It can always come back, after all. 

You stretch out, blinking to adjust back to the world of light beyond your eyelids, and then settle back against him. You breathe in, and can feel the weight of the air. You make a noise of agreement. "It's warm," you comment. He's spent enough time in the islands to know that means that if there is a storm, it shouldn't be too bad. Not like when the temperature plummets and clouds roll in on a bank of winds which put the flap of your toucannon's wings to shame.

It still feels strange that you've spent more time in the islands now than he has. While you held your place as champion, he traveled the world with Silvally. Back then, you weren't as you are now. The two of you were rough around the edges — him in particular. He was always waiting for something to go wrong for him, and those he cares about. You're almost proud that you've never given him cause to think you'd let anything he does cause you harm. He knows you're much too stubborn.

He strokes a thumb across your cheek, and you can tell he wants to ask you if you want to go in, before the weather turns rough. You smile and swing your leg over his lap, so you're sitting in it, grinning. He steadies you, with a flash of alarm crossing his face. You grin harder, and give him a small kiss.

From spending more than a little time on the beach, your skin which was a few shades darker than cream, is now positively brown, and you like seeing the way it contrasts against Gladion's. 

"Did I tell you that I hold the top record for Mantine Surf on all the islands?" You know you have, but it's the kind of thing that you enjoy reminding him of. He's so sure you're out of his league, but you wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

"I believe you did." He says the words dryly, like you should know that you have.

"Tomorrow," you say, "I'll teach you."

You're glad you're straddling him, because the look on his face says that he wants to bolt. It's too bad he doesn't have the same strategic mind that you do.

"I have matters to—" he breaks off at your pout, then collects himself again, an adorable tinge of red rising to his ears. "I can't spend all day on it. Silvally and I are in the middle of experiments."

"Silvally will understand," you say. Perhaps the pokémon would like to join you, but convincing Gladion that you can keep yourself, him and his most beloved pokémon safe would take some effort, so for now, you'll keep that idea to yourself.

He watches you, as if he's trying to spot something in your face. He does this a lot, and while you think you know why, you never try to show him anything that wasn't already on display. And perhaps in the end that is what he's looking for. He wants some confirmation that you won't leave him, that you trust him, and that you're happy with what he gives you.

You place your lips over his, and then slither backwards off his legs, so you can link your fingers with his and pull him down to the ocean.

You said that you would teach him tomorrow, but the sun hasn't touched the waves on the horizon yet, and you're excited. Plus this is your favourite hobby: seeing his alarm when you move too fast for him, and then the way he collects himself and realises that he can keep pace with you and your excitement with barely a nudge. That he's already as good as he needs to be for you to love him.

You draw the outline of a mantine in the sand with your toes, and he catches your elbow to steady you as you wobble on a corner. He stands in the middle, according to your orders. You nudge his feet apart so that he's forced to bend his knees, and settle your hands on his waist to push his hips lower.

He comments that he feels ridiculous. You just grin in reply, because he does. But he's your kind of ridiculous, and you enjoy him being himself more than anything.


End file.
